Apparatus for producing ethylene



M. C. WHITAKER AND A. A. BACKHAUS.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ETHYLENE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,

ATTORNEYS ,UNHTEM stares Parent orator.

METQN' c. WHITAKER, or NEW YORK, N. 1, AND Amman racers, or BALTI- rronn, YLAND, assrenoas T0 u. s. nrnusrnrar. ALCOHOL 00., a consona- TION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

APPTUS FOR FRGD'UGING ETHYLENE.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Application filed July 11,

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, MILTON C. WHIT- AKER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, in the county and State of New York, and ARTHUR A. BACKHAUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invented a certain. new and useful Imgrovement in Apparatus for Producing thylene, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to a method of making ethylene by the use of a catalytic agent.

The object of our invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which ethylene may be made catalytically and in an expeditions and economical manner.

Another object of our invention is to provide an advantageous apparatus for making ethylene from ethyl alcohol.

A further object of our invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which ethylene may be produced from ethyl alcohol in such a way as to obtain the maximum yield with the utilization of a minimum amount of heat.

Again another object of our invention is to use the apparatus in such a manner as to completely separate the ethylene from the unchanged alcohol.

Still another object is to preheat the 'al;, cohol, so as to avoid the presence of liquid alcohol in the chamber where the catalyst is located, in order to avoid loss of the catalyst by the formation of ethyl-esters of phosphoric acid. I

Further objects of our invention will appear from the detailed description thereof contained hereinafter.

While our invention is capable of embodiment in many difi'erent forms, for the purpose of illustration we shall describe only one type of apparatus in the accompanying drawing, in which;

The figure is a diagrammatic elevation of an apparatus made in accordance with our invention. In the drawings, we have shown a pipe 1 adapted to conduct hot gases, which may be heated gases derived from any source, as for example from an oven or furnace, said heated gases being conducted by the pipe 1 Patented Jan. 3, 1222.

1919. Serial No. 310,124.

to a furnace 2 having removable top and bottom plates 3 and 4. The furnace 2 is provided with a plurality of vertical tubes 5 supported by two tube sheets 6 and 7, and carrying within their passages a catalyst adapted to form ethylene from alcohol. The ethylene-forming catalytic a material may be comprised of a quantity of comminuted coke or umice stone carrying phosphoric acid (H 0 or instead, if desired, carrying finely divided aluminum oxide or kaolin. Preferably the tubes are filled with comminuted coke and the phosphoric acid is then poured into the tubes so as to be absorbed by the comminuted material in the tubes. ,The hot gases after passing 1 around the tube 5,leave the furnace 2 by a pipe 8, and thence pass into and downwardly within an alcohol preheater'9 through a plurality of tubes 10 therein, supported by tube sheets 11 and 12, after which the hot gases are conveyed away by a stack 13. The alcohol is fed to the apparatus from an alcohol supply tank 14 by means of valved trapped pipe 15 to the alcohol preheater 9, where the ascending alcohol is immediately converted into a vapor which passes from the preheater 9 by .a pipe 16 to the lower end of the furnace 2. I The alcohol vapors are conducted upwardly through the tubes 5 in the furnace 2, Where the alcohol is converted to a very large extent into ethylene and water. The vapors of ethylene, alcohol and water leave the top of the furnace 2 by means of a pipe 17 and are conducted to a column heater 18 where they serve to heat a body of water to provide steam for a column 19, the excess water from which is preferably allowed to continually flow away by a pipe 20 connected to the heater, and which leads to a discharge pipe 21 delivering into a funnel 22, whence the water may be conveyed away to any point of disposal. -A pipe 23 equalizes the pressures in the pipe 20 and the upper part of the heater 18. The heater 18 is comprised of a plurality of tubes 23 supported by tube sheets 23 and 23. The vapors from the heater 18 pass out by a pipe 2 1, and are shown to be conducted to a hot alcohol condenser 25 having a plurality of tubes 26 supported by tube sheets 27 and 27 therein, around which the vapors flow. The condenser 25 serves the purpose of removing the major portion of the alcohol and water from the ethylene, so that the alcohol may be returned to the system while warm. From this oint, the vapors pass by a pipe 27 to a co (1 alcohol condenser 28 having a plurality of tubes 29 supported by tube sheets 29 and 29* around which saidvapors are caused to flow, so as to remove the residual alcohol and water, and allow the puritied ethylene gas to pass out by a pipe 30, whence the ethylene may be collected and utilized in anydesired manner. The alcohol and Water containing a very little ethylene are returned by pipes 31 and 32 from the condensers 28 and 25 respectively to the column 19. 'As the vapors pass upwardly through the column '19, the liquid contained in the pans in said column becomes increasingly richer in alcohol, and from the top of said column the alcohol is fed by a pipe 33 to the alcohol preheater 9. The gases and vaporsfwhich reach the top of the column 19 pass outof the same by a pipe 34, and thence into a hot condenser 35 having a plurality of tubes 36 supported by tube sheets 37 and 38, from which point the condensed alcohol is conveyed by a pipe 39' to the top of the column 19,so as to provide liquid for sealing the pans in said column. From the hot condenser 35 the gases and vapors passing out of the same are conducted by a pipe 40 to a cold condenser 41 having a plurality of tubes 42 supported by perforated plates 43 and 44, while the residual gases and vapors not condensed therein are conveyed awayvby a pipe 45 to the pipe 27". The condensate from the condenser 41 is conveyed by a pipe 46 tothe pipe 39, and thence to the top of the column 19. The condensers 28 and 25, and 41 and 35, may be maintained at the desired temperatures in any suitable manner. For example, the condensers 28 and 25 may be cooled by a current of water passing through pipes 47, 48 and 49, and the condensers 41 and 35 may be cooled by a current of cold water passing through pipes 5 0, 51 and 52. i

In carrying out our invention in the described apparatus, the following proce dure may be followed :Alcohol.is supplied from the tank 14 through the preheater 9 maintained at a temperature of from 300 to 500 (1, and to the furnace 2 which is also maintained at a temperature of from 300 to 700 0., where the alcohol vapors formed in the preheater 9 are changed in part to ethylene and water by contact with the phosphoric acid or other catalyst present in the furnace 2. From this point the vapors of ethylene, alcohol and water pass to the column heater 18 where they serve to provide steam for the alcohol concentrating colunm 19. The ethylene, alcohol and water vapors pass from the column heater 18 to the hot and cold condensers 25 and 28,

whence the condensed alcohol and water containing a little ethylene is conveyed back to the column 19, while the effluent ethylene passes out of the condenser 28 in the-form of a gas, and may be collected and used in any desired manner. The concentrated alcohol produced in the column 19 is fed therefrom to the preheater 9. Alcohol to fill the pans of the column 19 is supplied to the column by pipes 39 and 46 leading from the condensers 35 and 41 through which the vapors from the top of the column 19 pass, and from which condensers any quantity of ethylene present is conveyed away to the condenser 28 where any remaining percentage of alcohol and water is removed from the ethylene, and-the ethylene becomes added to the main body thereof, so that all of the ethylene is thus recovered at the outlet end of the condenser 28 separated from the alcohol and water.

In this manner the ethylene is recovered after the alcohol and water have been entirely separated therefrom, while at the same time the heat of the various com pounds present is utilized, throughout the operation of the apparatus, and in such a manner that the apparatus may be operated continuously. Furthermore, the catalyst is utilized to the best advantage as'the forma-' tion of ethyl compounds thereof is avoided.

While we have described our invention above in detail, we wish it to be understood that many changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit thereof.

\Ve' claim: I

1. An apparatus for manufacturing ethylene comprising the combination of a catalytic chamber containing a catalyst, a preheater connected to the chamber, means for heating the preheater and chamber, an exit conduit leading from the chamber to a compartment in the bottom of a rectifying column and an exit conduit leading therefrom to a condenser, a condensing system connected to the top of the rectifier, return flow conduits leadingfrom said system to the rectifier, return flow conduits leading from the above mentioned condenser to the rectifier, a supply conduit leading from the rectifier to the reheater, a supply tank and a conduit lea 'ng therefrom to the preheater.

2. An apparatus for manufacturing ethylene comprising the combination of a catalytic chamber having tubes containing a catalyst, a preheater connected to the chamber, means for heating the preheater and tubes, an exit pipe making communication between the tubes, a heating compartment in the bottom of a rectifying column and an exit conduit leading therefrom to a condenser, a condensing system connected to the top of the rectifier, return flow conduits leadin from said system to the to of the recti er, return flow conduits leadlng from the above mentioned condenser to the rectifier, a

supply conduit from the top of the rectifier to the preheater, a supply tank and a conduit leading therefrom to the preheater.

3. An apparatus for manufacturing ethylene comprising the combination of a catalytic chamber having tubes containing a catalyst, a preheater connected to the chamber, means for heating the preheater and tubes, an exit conduit making communication between the tubes and a heating compartment in the bottom of a rectifying column and an exit conduit leading therefrom to a condenser, a condensing'system connected to the top of the rectifier, return flow pipes leadin from said system to the rectifier, return ow conduits leading from the above mentioned condenser to the rectifier, a supplg conduit leading from the top of the rec-- ti er to the preheater, a supply tank'and a conduit leading therefrom to the preheater,

and a conduit connecting the discharge of the condensing system to the above mentioned condenser so that residual gasesfrom the condensing system can be passed over to the,

condenser and condensed therein.

4. An apparatus for manufacturing ethylene comprising the combination of a catalytic chamber having tubes fcontaining a catalyst, a preheater connected to the chamber, means for heating the preheater and tubes, an exit conduit making communication between the tubes and the heating compartment in the bottom of the rectifying column and an exit conduit leading therefrom'to a condenser, a condensing system connected to the top of the rectifier, said condenser and condensing system each comprising a hot and a cold condenser for vapors, return flow conduits leading from said condenser and condensing system to the rectifier, a supply con- .duit leading from the rectifier to the pre heater, a supply tank and a conduit leading therefrom to the preheater.

5. An apparatus formanufacturing ethylene comprising the combination of a cata lytic chamber containing a catalyst, a preheater connected to the chamber, means for heating the preheater and chamber, an exit conduit leadin from the chamber to a condenser, a recti er, return flow conduits leading from the condenser to the rectifier, and

. 7. An apparatus for manufacturing ethylene comprising the combination of a catalytic chamber containing a catalyst, a preheater connected to the chamber, means for heating the preheater and chamber, an exit conduit -leadin from 'the. chamber to a condenser, a recti er, return flow conduits leading fromsaid condenser to the rectifier, a condensing system connected to the top of the rectifier, return flow conduits leading from the system back to the rectifier, and a supply conduit leading from the rectifier to the preheater.

Intestimony that we claim the foregoing, we have hereunto set our hands this 3rd day of July, 1919. c

MILTON o. WHITAKER, ARTHUR A. BACKHAUS. 

